


tokimeki time slip

by orphan_account



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, and lots of derealization, time skip, unreliable storytelling, with some surprises
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 01:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5229422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>nico runs into trouble when she unknowingly falls into a bizarre problem involving time, predictions and disappearances. written in short, minimal chapters, plenty of dialogue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. slipped

**Author's Note:**

> edit/update: i've softclosed this fic with the intent of rewriting it in the unforeseeable future. we'll see! this is going on the shelf, though.

You screwed up.

Let’s face it. You were given a perfect opportunity, and you squandered it, tossed it in the wind. You’d never imagine that someone like you could waste anything, especially a **chance**. But it happened. And the damage was done.

Maybe it was the fear.

It’s happened before. You knew the signs. You spent a little too much of your energy, invested a little too much of your attention, and you were afraid of the inevitable fall. The self-fulfilling **prophecy**. When all the chips were in, you played it safe, kept quiet. In avoiding the wrong thing, you did nothing.

You screwed up. And you couldn’t take it back. Not in a thousand years. Not in an eternity.

When you realized you couldn’t see her anymore, you stopped eating, only taking dinner with your younger siblings, only smiling when someone close to you gave you that look. As for the others, they kept their distance. They thought it was something that could heal over **time**. And as the weeks wore on you, university and work took whatever was left of your vitality.

So on the day you fell, you couldn’t have possibly heard the music playing in the street. Or tasted the salt in the air. The wind got in your eyes, but you kept looking ahead, vision fixed on an unknowable point, not really seeing anything. Everything escaped you. Sensations, smells, insights. Everything except her **afterimage**. Her color in the scenery.

Maybe that’s why you didn’t see the **slip**.


	2. recursive

Nico woke up screaming. Geez, she thought. That was a terrible nightmare. She chopped at her alarm clock, put on an apron, and immediately saw to her siblings breakfast and lunch. Still. It felt pretty real. 

“That does sound strange,” said Eli, who was seated at the Yazawas’ kitchen table. 

“Got that right,” said Nico. “Anything to drink before we go, guys?”

“I’m fine, thank you, Nicocchi,” said Nozomi, passing tarot after tarot into her sleeve. “Strange dreams have a tendency toward truth. Maybe you should write it all down.”

Nico rubbed her temples. “Nope. It was one of those dreams you just can’t forget. It’s ironed into my memory.”

“In the interest of warding off any bad luck,” said Eli, “You should go talk to her after class.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” said Nico. “All done here. Train’s coming in twenty, so we should leave.”

“Right.” Nozomi flipped a card in her palm. “Five times already,” she said, staring at it.


	3. gateway

“Sorry to make you wait,” said Maki. She and Nico stood at the gate to Otonokizaka Academy. “We seniors are planning an event soon, so I got held up at a meeting. Did you want to talk to me about something?”  
  
“What’s the event?”  
  
“We’re getting together to support the idol club’s stage this spring.” Maki giggled. “Really. A part of me will miss this place, but I also can’t wait to graduate. I’ve written a lot of music.”  
  
“That’s really cool,” said Nico. “It won’t be that long until, so keep at it.”  
  
"I'll try my best," said Maki. "After all, when I think about someday reuniting with you and the rest of the girls, I get super excited. It's a little embarrassing to admit. And I'm sure Rin and Hanayo feel the same way."  
  
"Oh yeah?" said Nico. "That's all fine, but make sure you focus on your school stuff. I'm not going to wait for you if you get held back a year."  
  
"Shut up. Who do you think I am?"  
  
Nico blinked. "My girlfriend?"  
  
“I guess...” Maki smiled and watched the ground. “Could it be that you came here just to walk me home?”  
  
“Something like that,” said Nico, and held out her hand. “Come on. Let’s go.”


	4. dream world

“Bawwww! How cute!”  
  
Honoka leaned forward and squeezed Nico’s cheeks together.  
  
“S-stop that! Honoka!”  
  
“Cute, cute! Wasn’t that cute of her, Kotori?”  
  
They were seated in a family restaurant. Umi flipped through the menu, her hand drifting unconsciously to her lips in intense thought. “I know I want to try something new,” she said. “I always get the same vegetable dish.”  
  
“Do you have an opinion, Umi?” said Nico, sipping her drink.  
  
“What? About the veggie dish? Oh. Right. Your dream. Yeah, it’s a bit out of character for us, I think. I doubt we’d just leave you alone like that. It’s easy to be spooked by it, especially when you don’t even know what you did to trigger all the depressing stuff. It sucks to not be able to forget the things you want to forget.”  
  
Kotori nodded. "The first time I saw Honoka's 'dead hungry' face, I couldn't sleep for weeks. It still gives me chills. That was when I was ten."  
  
“Eh?” said Honoka. “But Nico’s already talked to Maki about it, right? They even held hands and everything. If I got to hold hands with someone special, I'd forget about everything.”  
  
"Walking with Maki a few times isn't going to help me much, I think," said Nico. "The imagery is going to stay with me all week, whether I like it or not. I may even lose sleep."  
  
“Nightmares are best shared with a wide variety of people,” said Kotori. “So you should start by telling everyone you know. That way, you can sleep peacefully, knowing that your friends have your back in the dream world!”  
  
“Dream world?” said Honoka. “That sounds wicked cool!”  
  
Nico groaned and cradled her head. “I’m counting on you for some nonfictional support, Umi.”  
  
“Not for much longer, sadly,” said Umi, and checked her watch. “I’m going to leave early. The traffic is really bad at this time, and I want to get to the campus on time for once. I’ll order a veggie to go.”  
  
“Can I get a ride, then?” said Kotori, and stood up to stretch. “The train’s all right, but we’re going to the same place today, Umi-chan.”  
  
“No problem.”  
  
“Wahhh,” said Honoka. “I’m so jealous. I still have a lot of time before I have to go home for my shift.”  
  
“You'll transfer in the spring, Honoka. Cheer up.”  
  
“She’s so cute when she’s lonely.”  
  
“Anyway, see you later, Nico. We'll be back later tonight, Honoka.”  
  
Honoka smiled and waved after them, not stopping until they had left the restaurant and exited completely out of view. She turned to Nico and frowned.  
  
“That's that, I guess," she said. "What’s wrong, Nico-chan? Headache?”  
  
“Just a little dizzy,” said Nico. “Almost fainted on the way to school with Nozomi and Eli. There were, like, stars in my eyes and everything.”  
  
“Ah, that really is a problem, Nico-chan,” said Honoka, folding her hands and placing them on the table neatly. “Maybe that’s why you didn’t see the slip.”


	5. multiplicity

“Honoka?”

“Time traveler Honoka, actually,” said the time traveler, whose name was Honoka. “Somewhere along the way, you made a mistake, Nico-chan.”

“If you’re referring to my dream, Honoka,” said Nico, “This isn’t funny.” Nico wondered if she even told anybody about the voice.

The time traveler lowered her eyes and turned in her seat. Nico followed her line of sight. There were more tables in the restaurant than Nico had remembered and, when she focused on a single table, the entrance seemed to escape hundreds of yards away from her peripheral vision, although she was sure it was in the same spot.

“Multiplicity,” said Honoka. “So it’s a story with duplicates. It looks like it’s going to be tough on you, Nico-chan.”

“H-how are you doing that?”

“It isn’t important that you trust me,” said Honoka. “Just remember what I say, so you’ll at least have a chance. We have little time before it happens.”

“Before what happens?”

“Recursion,” said Honoka. “Mmm. It’s like the _anko_ in _daifuku_. No, wait. Bad explanation. Um.”  
  
The entrance to the restaurant opened. The sunlight seemed to fill its threshold, concealing the street outside completely, and bathing the inside of the building in an ethereal glow.  
  
“Weh. I’m out of time,” said Honoka, and got up to leave. “Just remember what I said for now. Bye!”


	6. doppelgangers

Nico woke up screaming. Geez, she thought. Was it the exact same nightmare as last night? She chopped at her alarm clock, put on an apron, and immediately saw to her siblings breakfast and lunch. Not the same nightmare, exactly. She decided there were a few differences.  
  
“Strange that it happened again,” said Eli, who was seated at the Yazawas’ kitchen table.  
  
“Got that right,” said Nico. “Anything to drink before we go, Eli?”  
  
“No, thank you,” said Eli. “Grab a water bottle before you go, though. I don’t want you fainting again.”  
  
“Roger,” said Nico, and rubbed her temples. She spotted something in the middle of the table, and picked it up, flipping it at Eli. “Isn’t this Nozomi’s?”  
  
“Wheel of Fortune?” said Eli. “Yes, that’s hers, all right. It’s unlikely for Nozomi to forget her tarot cards anywhere. She’s been acting pretty weird lately. Just last night she came home and said something a little off before we went to bed.”  
  
“Off?”  
  
“Something about doppelgangers,” said Eli. “It was oddly specific, too. Wish I could remember what she said exactly.”  
  
“Guess Nozomi isn’t going to school, then?”  
  
“Mm. I let her sleep in.”  
  



	7. blink

“Meow,” said Rin. She, Hanayo and Nico stood at the gate to Otonokizaka Academy. “Hiya, Nico-nyan.”  
  
“Hey, guys. Where’s Maki?”  
  
“She’ll be along shortly,” said Hanayo. “She’s in a meeting with the other seniors for the idol club support event.”  
  
“Right. Aren’t you two in this committee, too?”  
  
“Yep!” Hanayo giggled. “But as student council president and idol club president, we had related, but separate, business to take care of. As you can see.”  
  
Hanayo pointed to a group of girls past the gate, talking and laughing. “Our lovely school idol juniors,” she said. “Really. A part of me will miss being their senior, but I also can’t wait for our graduation.”  
  
Nico blinked.  
  
“Meow. Isn’t that nice? I hope that those girls stay together forever.”  
  
“Wait for me long?” said Maki, who was walking toward them. “Come on, Nico.”  
  
Nico felt herself being pulled away. “Easy, Maki!”  
  
“Bye, you two!”  
  
“Later, nya!”  
  



	8. disappearance

On her way to the restaurant from Maki’s, Nico got a phone call.   
  
“Hello?”  
  
“Nico?” It was Eli. She sounded like she had been running. “Nico, it’s terrible. Nozomi is missing!”  
  
“Wait, wait, wait. What?” Nico ducked into an alley and pressed the phone close to her face. “Slow down, Eli. Tell me what happened.”  
  
“Nozomi isn’t home, so I tried calling her phone, and it said the number isn’t listed. Then I called her parents. They told me they had no idea where she was, and that she was supposed to be at the shrine today.”  
  
“Okay, calm down, Eli,” said Nico. “She might come home later tonight. I’ll go to your house in a few, and we’ll both wait up for her. In the meantime, tell her parents that she contacted you. That’ll prevent Nozomi from getting in trouble.”  
  
Nico hung up and entered the restaurant. She looked at Honoka, who was sitting by herself. “You’re back, Nico-chan,” she said. “Please sit down and tell me who disappeared.”


End file.
